


weather this storm

by ariya167



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Getting Together, M/M, Post-Canon, Romance, Zukka Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-03 03:37:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17276375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariya167/pseuds/ariya167
Summary: Zuko slapped his hair out of his eyes and glared at the cold rain cascading down from the sky. Beside him, Sokka looked just as miserable, his chin firmly tucked beneath the collar of his coat.





	weather this storm

Zuko pushed his hair out of his eyes and glared at the cold rain cascading down from the sky. Beside him, Sokka looked just as miserable, his chin firmly tucked beneath the collar of his coat. 

“I thought you liked the water,” he said, and when Sokka shot a confused look his way, clarified: “Being Water Tribe and everything.”

“Hey, I’m not a bender,” Sokka said, holding his hands up in mock protest. “Besides, you don’t like being set on fire, do you?”

“I guess not,” Zuko answered, thinking back. Yes, all the times fire had been shot at him, it had generally not been a pleasant experience. 

“Now, if Katara was here,” Sokka went on. “You wouldn’t be able to get a word in edgewise over her blathering about how wonderful the rain is and how it’s connecting her to her element and blah blah magic water blah blah.”

Personally, Zuko thought Katara was pretty level-headed, and not the type prone to long rambling speeches. But Sokka was her brother, and as such, Zuko had found, had the right to complain about her, and vice-versa. 

He felt a brief stab of guilt that the brother-sister thing never worked out with him and Azula, and then a stab of cold and wet when the tree he was walking underneath dumped all its water on top of his head. 

Zuko contemplated setting the tree on fire for a moment, but settled for heating the air around him so the excess water just steamed off. 

“Oh, I bet that felt nice,” Sokka said appreciatively, gesturing vaguely at Zuko. 

“Uh-huh,” Zuko said, and hesitated. “Do you want me to . . .?” 

“Go ahead. Just don’t set me on fire.”

“I’ll try not to,” he joked, and held out his hand. What he thought of as heatbending was more difficult the farther away he was, and even more difficult when he was doing it on someone else. Slowly, he touched the air just over Sokka’s skin, shrinking away from going further, and brought up a few more degrees of heat. 

“Ooh, that’s the stuff,” Sokka said, stretching his arms out behind him. “Thanks, man.” 

“No problem,” Zuko replied, and reluctantly started walking again. However carefully he stepped, he always seemed to plant his foot in a deep puddle of mud or pond water. After the third time he had to bend down and shake the sludge out of his boots, Sokka called for a stop. 

“It’s getting dark,” he explained, helping Zuko to his feet. “Besides, there’s been no sign of the bandits, so we might as well be a little more well-rested and little less damp when we do find them.”

He was right, Zuko realized. They’d been walking around in this forest/swamp for nearly a day in search of the bandits that had been raiding the small town of Xuanping, and they hadn’t seen a trace of them. Still, he couldn’t resist arguing a little.

“What if they find us while we’re sleeping?”

Sokka laughed. “Hey, we’re a Water Tribe warrior and the Fire Lord. I think we can take them.”

Zuko looked down at his feet, still sinking into the marsh underneath them. Then he looked back at Sokka.

“Alright,” he relented. “But where do you propose we find a place to sleep?”

Sokka pointed behind them, smiling. “Back there. I saw a ridge about ten minutes ago, and it’ll probably be high enough to be out of the water.”

“Thanks,” Zuko said appreciatively, but Sokka shook his head.

“It’s nothing,” he said, but Zuko was still grateful. He’d studied the basics of survival before, but only in the Fire Nation. And though he had done plenty of stupid things while travelling in the Earth Kingdom, getting lost in a swamp was not one of them. 

They found the ridge Sokka had spotted quickly, and discovered a somewhat dry patch to set up camp. Zuko concentrating on coaxing a damp pile of sticks into flame, and by the time he was successful, Sokka had set out their bedrolls and hung the tarp on a tree to protect them from the rain. 

“So what’s for dinner?” Zuko asked, when they were both huddled by the fire. 

Sokka grinned. “I’m glad you asked!” he said, turning to root through his pack. He emerged victorious a few moments later, seal jerky in his hand. “Ta-da!”

Zuko forced a smile. Sokka’s seal jerky wasn’t bad, per se, but there was always the risk of breaking a tooth. Still, Sokka seemed to enjoy it, and taste-wise, he couldn’t complain. 

They ate in companionable silence, broken only by the crackling of the fire. Then Sokka paused, and frowned at Zuko.

“Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Zuko asked, but as he said the words, the sound of something moving in the trees echoed behind him. 

Bandits? Sokka mouthed, hand drifting to the sword on his hip. Zuko frowned, twisting around to look at the forest. Fire began to build just below his skin, preparing for a fight, but no attackers spilled from the trees. He looked back at Sokka, who looked as confused as he felt.

Then at least a dozen bandits burst forward from the forest, all armed to the teeth. Zuko was on his feet in seconds, fire flaring to life in his hands. Behind him, he heard Sokka draw his sword from its scabbard as they stood back-to-back, falling into fighting stances. 

The bandits didn’t waste any time, surging forward and attacking. Zuko ducked under the edge of a sword as it whistled above his head, only to stumble when another bandit tossed a length of chain at his feet. He was standing again in moments, shooting fireball after fireball at the bandits who got too close. 

The rain steamed as he fought, alternating between fire and his own fists. Every time a bandit went down, another one took their place. He dodged swords and knives and kicks, and despite the rain and his best efforts, trees started to go up in flames. 

The circle of bandits closed tighter around them, until he and Sokka were forced back-to-back as they fought. Sensing a break in the fight, Zuko turned to Sokka.

“Ready to finish this?” he asked, and Sokka’s eyes narrowed.

“You know it,” he said, tightening his grip on his sword. Zuko nodded, and attacked the nearest bandit with renewed vigour. Fire bloomed to life in his hands as he fought back-to-back with Sokka, moving in tandem against the circle of bandits. 

Zuko lashed out with fire and his fists, not daring to stop or slow down, until the circle of bandits stopped pressing forward and turned to flee into the forest, likely deciding that he and Sokka weren’t worth the effort. 

He panted, resting his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Beside him, Sokka glared at the trees the bandits had disappeared into.

“At least we’ve got something to tell the mayor of Xuanping,” Sokka decided. He said something else, but Zuko wasn’t listening, staring up at the dark sky with apprehension. He could feel it-something was coming, and that something was very, very bad. 

Zuko realized what it was a moment before the sky cracked open, lightning arcing down to strike the ground where they were standing. He was on his feet without thinking, pushing Sokka out of the way and settling into the familiar stance before the lightning hit. 

As many times as Zuko had done this, it always felt like he was experiencing it for the first time. Lightning was like nothing else, like cold fire and electricity burning in his veins, like a huge, merciless wave crashing over him and threatening to drown him. Zuko forced his hands to move, directing the lightning away from the sky and down to the earth, but lightning didn’t like to follow any path except its own. 

He was balanced on a scale, between too much control and not enough, between letting the lightning burn him up from the inside or releasing it into the earth. But at the end of the day, he knew what to do, and the lightning surged away from his hands and crackled to dust in the dirt. 

“Wow,” Sokka whispered from where Zuko had pushed him, eyes wide. “That was . . . man, are you okay?” 

“I . . . I think so,” Zuko said, and coughed. They were both safe-that was what mattered. He grasped Sokka’s hand and helped him to his feet, and before he could stop himself, he kissed him.

Sokka jerked away, and Zuko cursed himself-of course Sokka wouldn’t feel the same way, what are you thinking-before Sokka pushed back, smiling.

“That’s been a long time coming,” Sokka said wryly, and it was like everything was coming to the surface-the Boiling Rock all those years ago, working together and travelling after the war, those secret glances and late-night thoughts and everything in Zuko’s body saying finally before he kissed Sokka again.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me on [tumblr!](ariya-167.tumblr.com)


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